PC commissioners wary as marina costs rise

A new lighthouse is part of the redevelopment plans for the Panama City Marina.

special to The News Herald

By Zack McDonald / The News Herald

Published: Monday, September 2, 2013 at 02:21 PM.

PANAMA CITY
— Additional costs to the Marina Redevelopment Project has city commissioners second guessing their votes of approval.

After about $600,000 in add-ons were topped off by a $1.6 million overshot of estimates for the final leg of the project, commissioners said they were not sure they would have given the go ahead if they knew then what they know now.

“If we were going to look at the project again based on what we’ve seen — with the prices — I’m not so sure we would’ve made some of those decisions,” said Mayor Greg Brudnicki.

The low bid from Royal American Construction of $5.37 million surpassed project designer, AECOM, estimates of $3.7 million for the Marina Park — putting a halt to the commissioners’ streak of begrudging approvals to additional project costs.

Several items accumulated to form the $1.6 million, but accounting for about half the bid was the jewel of the marina project — the lighthouse.

City projections put the cost at about $780,000 but Royal American’s bid valued construction of the lighthouse at $1.6 million.

“If someone told me the lighthouse was going to cost $1.6 million, I may have had a different view of whether or not I would have supported that,” Brudnicki said.

PANAMA CITY — Additional costs to the Marina Redevelopment Project has city commissioners second guessing their votes of approval.

After about $600,000 in add-ons were topped off by a $1.6 million overshot of estimates for the final leg of the project, commissioners said they were not sure they would have given the go ahead if they knew then what they know now.

“If we were going to look at the project again based on what we’ve seen — with the prices — I’m not so sure we would’ve made some of those decisions,” said Mayor Greg Brudnicki.

The low bid from Royal American Construction of $5.37 million surpassed project designer, AECOM, estimates of $3.7 million for the Marina Park — putting a halt to the commissioners’ streak of begrudging approvals to additional project costs.

Several items accumulated to form the $1.6 million, but accounting for about half the bid was the jewel of the marina project — the lighthouse.

City projections put the cost at about $780,000 but Royal American’s bid valued construction of the lighthouse at $1.6 million.

“If someone told me the lighthouse was going to cost $1.6 million, I may have had a different view of whether or not I would have supported that,” Brudnicki said.

Funds from engraved bricks and a guaranteed $200,000 donation from the Panama City Lighthouse group further convinced commissioners of the lighthouse’s feasibility, according to Brudnicki.

“Now we’re talking about twice as much,” Brudnicki said.

Marina Park, the second phase of the Marina Redevelopment Project, AECOM designed with a splash pad, welcome center, band shell, military walkway, the lighthouse and several other smaller-ticket items to make up the $3.7 million estimate.

AECOM, a design team headquartered in Los Angeles, representatives said they were contracted for one bid package with cost estimates of all phases of the project combined.

“That included line items including the lighthouse, which was much higher than $700,000,” said BrianBays, program manager for AECOM. “We weren’t involved in separating bids. The city may have derived it from numbers but we did not separate a bid estimate for phase two.”

Still Royal American’s bid of $5.37 million is closer to the $5.6 million estimated for the entire cost of the project.

“We’ll go back and look at our bids and try to separate them into two phases and give them that info so they can compare and analyze,” Bays said. “What I’ve said is they could bid it tomorrow and it could be half that or bid it out in two weeks and it could be three times that.”

“I can’t venture to guess what impacted the bids at this point,” Bays added.

Neil Fravel, the public works department director, said the remaining amount over the estimate is made up of numerous small items and larger add-ons like the $180,000 military walkway.

Fravel was directed to meet with Royal American and AECOM for an explanation of the disparity of prices earlier in August. So far he had met with Royal American but had not received a response by Tuesday’s commission meeting.

“The lighthouse is a one-of-a-kind project,” Fravel said. “I think they just flat guessed wrong on the price.”

If, in fact, bad guessing was to blame, Brudnicki said, that in itself would be unsettling.

“I don’t know if I can trust [the bidders’] judgment on anything,” Brudnicki said. “It’s kind of like a tainted witness.”

Commissioners expressed the possibility of separating larger ticket items, such as the lighthouse, from the project to bid out separately.

Commissioner Billy Rader said he was not just uncomfortable with the $1.6 million cost projection but uncomfortable with the lighthouse being attached to the entire project to begin with.

“I wanted to support the marina project but the lighthouse was attached to it,” he said. “I wanted to be a team player, but I don’t want to swallow that $1.6 million.”

Timelines for the Marina Redevelopment Project’s April 2016 completion are for now holding fast. Fravel expects a response from AECOM and Royal American before the commission’s late September meeting.

“To see the lowest bid was a couple million dollars more than what they said we should expect, it is just hard for me to fathom we are comparing apples to apples,” Brudnicki added. “ … We need something that says, ‘here’s the reason they were so far off.’”